F. hockey primes for battle with Quakers

The field hockey team may be out of the race for the Ivy title, but they still have a chance to make school history.

If Yale defeats Penn this Saturday, the Elis will keep alive their chance to tie the school record for wins in Ancient Eight play, which was set with five wins in 1998 and matched in 2003.

The Bulldogs (3-10, 2-2 Ivy) have been on the road for the past two weekends, and will look to snap a three-game losing streak when they return to Johnson Field to take on the Quakers (7-7, 2-2 Ivy). Although the two teams share the same Ivy record, the Quakers are 4-0 in their last four games, and Yale will try to regain momentum on their home turf.

Midfielder Lindsay Collins ’07 said the Bulldogs have struggled with consistency this season and hope to reverse this pattern in Saturday’s game.

“We’re going to start thinking strong so we don’t have a lag time before we actually start competing in the game,” she said. “Our game plan is to go out and attack and score first so we can hopefully get the other team on their heels.”

Penn is coming off a dominant 3-0 victory over the University of Maryland-Baltimore County last Wednesday. The Quakers outshot the Retrievers, 25-2, and have outscored their opponents 11-3 during their current hot streak after struggling to find the net all season.

The Bulldog defense will look to shut down midfielder Meghan Rose, who leads Penn in points with four goals and five assists. Midfielder Nicole Black is the team leader in goals with six, and forward Tracy Statter has tallied five goals and two assists. Quaker goalkeeper Liz Schlossberg has a .732 save percentage, about middle of the pack for the Ivy League and has made 66 saves this season.

Penn won last year’s meeting between the two teams, 1-0, scoring with two minutes to play off a penalty corner. Captain Heather Orrico ’07 generated two of Yale’s three shots on goal.

Though the Bulldogs won big Oct. 7 against Dartmouth, 3-1, their play has been inconsistent in the past two weeks, as it has been throughout this entire season. Yale dropped a narrow 3-2 decision to Harvard one week later in double overtime to give the Cantabs their first Ivy victory. Midfielder Katie Cantore ’10 said the Elis are looking to improve upon their mental game.

“We have all the strength we need there, but we need to work on making sure we put it all together as a team so that we have our best performance,” she said. “At the beginning of the game, we need to set the mood by coming out with the same fire and desire to win because that sets the tempo for the rest of the game.”

Midfielder Harriet Thayer ’08 leads the Bulldogs in scoring with four goals and five assists, while forward Rachel Lentz ’07 has tallied four goals and one assist. Goalkeeper Elizabeth Friedlander ’07 has a .830 save percentage in Ivy games and leads the league in saves this season with 123 — 48 more than her closest opponent, Dartmouth’s Ashley Heist.

“For the last couple days we’ve been working on our shooting mentality,” Alyssa Jethani ’09 said. “In the circle both offensively and defensively, we have a whole new mentality of getting things done. I think that’s really going to project into the weekend. We’re doing everything right. We just need to keep the ball out of our net and score.”

The Elis are currently in a three-way battle with Harvard and Penn for third place in the Ivy League. Princeton tops the league with a 5-0 record going into the weekend as the only undefeated Ancient Eight team, and Brown is in second place with a 3-1 record.

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